Phoebe Keef

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P. A. M. Keef

Born1898
Amritsar, India
Died1978(1978-00-00) (aged 79–80)
Academic work
DisciplineArchaeology
Institutions

Phoebe Keef FSAS (1898–1978) was a field archaeologist and was elected as a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 1938.[1] She directed several excavations, including work at East Dean Park[2] and Harting Beacon, both in Sussex.[3]

Biography[edit]

Keef was born in Amritsar in 1898, and her family later moved to England where she went to school. Keef's father died when she was 3 years old. During the First World War, Keef worked for the YMCA and the St John's Ambulance.[2] In 1938 she volunteered at the excavation of Angmering Roman villa.[1] Keef worked at a hospital during the Second World War, but in 1941 was allowed time away from the hospital to join excavations at Angmering.[1] Two years later she took part in The Conference on the Future of Archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology in London, contributing to a discussion on the role of archaeological societies.[4]

Keef directed excavations at the hillfort known as Harting Beacon between 1948 and 1952; the results were largely unpublished aside from a note in The Antiquaries Journal, however, Owen Bedwin later published a summary of the excavations in the Sussex Archaeological Collections based on Keef's notes accessed after her death.[3] Keef ran the West Sussex excavation group. With the group she excavated a Romano-British farmstead near Lambs Lea in Sussex in 1953–54.[5]

Selected publications[edit]

  • Keef, Phoebe (1940). "Flint-Chipping Sites and Hearths on Bedham Hill near Pulborough". Sussex Archaeological Collections. 81: 215–237. doi:10.5284/1086692.
  • — (1945). "Excavations at Chester Hill Fort, Hundleshope, in Manor Parish, 1939". Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. 80: 66–73.
  • — (1945). "Angmering Roman Villa Site: Interim Report on Excavations, 1941". Sussex Archaeological Collections. 84: 83–107. doi:10.5284/1085960.
  • — (1953). "Two gold penannular ornaments from Harting Beacon, Sussex". Antiquaries Journal. 33 (3–4): 204–206. doi:10.1017/S0003581500059400.
  • Keef, Phoebe; Wymer, J. J.; Dimbleby, G. W. (1965). "A Mesolithic Site on Iping Common, Sussex, England". Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, London. 31: 85–92. doi:10.1017/S0079497X00014730.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Phillips, Pauline (1998). "The participation of women in the journal Sussex Archaeological Collections 1900-1950". Sussex Archaeological Collections. 136: 141. doi:10.5284/1085032.
  2. ^ a b McInnes, James (2016), "East Dean: a home for the High Woods", in Manley, John (ed.), Secrets of the High Woods: Revealing Hidden Landscapes (PDF), South Downs National Park Authority, pp. 86–87, ISBN 978-1-5272-0302-0, retrieved 31 August 2021
  3. ^ a b Bedwin, Owen (1983). "Miss P. A. M. Keef's Excavations at Harting Beacon and nearby sites 1948-1952" (PDF). Sussex Archaeological Collections. 121: 199–202.
  4. ^ Thornton, Amara. "Going Back to the Future (of Archaeology)". Reading Room Notes. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  5. ^ Gilkes, Oliver J. (1990). "Miss P. A. M. Keef's Excavations on a Roman Farmstead at Lambs Lea, West Sussex" (PDF). Sussex Archaeological Collections. 128: 246–249.